Call to protect women from online violence

The internet has revolutionized our lives, offering unprecedented opportunities for connection, learning and empowerment. Yet the digital revolution has a sinister side: the growing threat of technology-facilitated gender-based violence. A recent global study found that nearly 60 percent of women had experienced one or more forms of online harm. For millions of women and girls, digital spaces are fraught with risks that echo and amplify the violence they already face offline.

The statistics are alarming. Globally, almost one in three women has experienced physical or sexual violence in her lifetime. In 2022, femicide rates reached a 20-year high. Online, women and girls face harassment, stalking, image-based abuse and threats of violence — attacks that often spill into the real world with devastating consequences.

During humanitarian crises, these risks escalate further as traffickers exploit digital technologies to deceive, control and exploit vulnerable women and girls, leading to extortion, identity theft and sexual slavery. The roots of these vulnerabilities lie in the digital gender divide, low digital literacy and widespread misinformation.